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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22414027">Red In Her Ledger</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/arpita/pseuds/arpita'>arpita</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Baahubali (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Cross-Posted on Tumblr, F/M, How Do I Tag, I Don't Even Know, Tumblr Prompt, most of the characters are a passing mention</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 15:07:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,980</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22414027</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/arpita/pseuds/arpita</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on @CarminaVulcana 's prompt: Sivagami Devi survives and manages to punish Bhalla with the death penalty. What is life like for her, Devasena, and Mahendra now?</p>
<p>Though the focus kind of shifted to Sivagami's survival, yet, the Boss Lady that she is, she manages to come back to Maahishmati, and the rest follows.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Amarendra Baahubali &amp; Kattappa, Amarendra Baahubali/Bhallaladeva, Amarendra Baahubali/Devasena, Amarendra Baahubali/Sivagami, Bhallaladeva &amp; Devasena, Bhallaladeva/Kattappa (Baahubali), Bhallaladeva/Sivagami (Baahubali), Devasena &amp; Sivagami (Baahubali), Kattappa/Sivagami (Baahubali), Sanga &amp; Mahendra Baahubali, Sanga &amp; Sivagami Devi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Red In Her Ledger</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/CarminaVulcana/gifts">CarminaVulcana</a>, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/thelonewolfwrites/gifts">thelonewolfwrites</a>, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkn1ght1/gifts">Inkn1ght1</a>, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/MayavanavihariniHarini/gifts">MayavanavihariniHarini</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>“Mahendra Baahubali must live!”</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The Queen Mother of Maahishmati raises the feebly bawling infant to save him from the lashes of the torrent that could possibly carry both of them away to death. She really didn’t care for her own life, having come this far to save her Grandson, the heir that her land needed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yet, her body was giving up, her instincts were fading away as her blood numbed. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>
    <em>FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!, </em>
  </b>
  <span>someone kept goading her to fight.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>
    <em>You cannot leave them alone! Not when another Mother is still alive!</em>
  </b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>
    <em>You cannot just leave it to this babe, and shrug off the responsibility of the ones you’ve wronged!</em>
  </b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Her blood froze.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>---</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Amma!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Her face was awash with droplets of water. She felt a slight pat on her cheek.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Ma-Ma-Mahen--” her voice broke as she tried to reach for the baby that had been in her arms only moments ago.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Bring the child,” she thought she heard another feminine voice speak.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She heard the infant cluck incoherently. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Mahendra!” Sivagami woke with a start.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Here here, Amma,” she clearly saw a woman raise a tumbler of water to her lips, while supporting her head on her palm. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Your Grandson is safe, as are you.” she smiled warmly.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It was only a matter of moments till the other woman fell back into a deep, dreamless slumber.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>--- </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I am grateful, Sanga,” she tells the woman who had been caring for her and the baby. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She was. She couldn’t help but feel overburdened with the generosity that these humble villagers from the land of Amboli were heaping them with. It was the debt of a thousand lifetimes that they had accrued. After all, they had saved her, and her grandson. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Sivagami felt like she was one of them. And yet, she wasn’t.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Ah, My Queen!” Sanga chides her, “It is my duty to serve you so.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>It isn’t</span>
  </em>
  <span>, The Queen tells herself.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“And this child,” she feels Sanga’s heart well with joy as her eyes shift to the cradle beside Sivagami’s bed.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“He feels like my own,” she softly tickles him, earning a toothless giggle.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Sivagami smiles a warm, genuine smile. True, her current environs had nothing of the luxury, or the extravagance she was used to. Her bed had no muslin covers, or silken quilts fluffed with the softest cottons of the North. It was coarse, and rough, softened only by repeated use over the years. Sanga’s home was simple. A plain, simplistic, thatched hut, spotlessly clean, and occasionally basking in the aroma of the various spices that she used in the food that she cooked.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>In short, her home was only a reflection of the village that she had lived in all her life. And, of course, Amboli, was a peaceful, sober little hamlet, that gave her inhabitants their due by keeping them sheltered from the politics of the Highlands.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>At times, she felt as if her presence would corrupt these people. After all, the burden of her sins were heavy, and there were no reassurances Sanga could offer to keep her inner demons at bay.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>None at all.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>---</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The Queen does whatever little she can to lessen her debt, beginning right from helping Sanga in her household chores to attempting to assist the tribesmen in their daily lives.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Let me be a part of this,” she requests Sanga’s husband. She also understands that it is their supposed sense of subservience that keeps him from contesting her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She loves it here. But then, she knows that she would have to take their leave sooner than they would have thought. It is yet another burden sherhas, this one, on her conscience, for every breath Devasena took, was bound in those chains, and reeked of Amarendra Baahubali’s blood.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her Baahu awaited justice. Mahendra deserved it, and as for Devasena-</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>It was owed to her.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>---</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you sure, My Queen?” Sanga asks her with a heavy voice.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, Sanga.” she replies, not impassively.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Four months had been a lot faster than she had thought. When she had been pulled to safety, she had almost assumed herself to be dead. However, she wasn’t, and neither was Mahendra.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I have to go now.” she tells the other woman.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“But Sivu?” she asks.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“This is yet another favour that I require of you,” she takes Sanga’s hands in hers.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Can you please take care of him till I return?” Sivagami pleads. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“We shall guard him with our lives, My Queen.” she is answered.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>---</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The route to Maahishmati was long, and tiring.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>If only I could scale that Jalparvat, </span>
  </em>
  <span>she huffed to herself. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But then, the Jalparvat was massive and hence unscalable. Only someone with empyrean strength could scale that mountain that had its peak somewhere in the clouds. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>However, that wasn't a feat for her to achieve. She had to take the route that went through the caves. It would take her at least another day to reach the gates of her country. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She couldn't wait. Every moment waited, was a moment wasted.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And-</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Heaven alone knew what Bhalla was up to.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She hoped and prayed that he hadn't claimed any more innocent lives. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>---</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>'</span>
  <b>Rajamata!</b>
  <span>' the guard turned white as if he had seen a ghost. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Sivagami tightened her grip on the hilt of the comparatively crudely forged sword she had requested one of the blacksmiths in Amboli to construct for her. It wasn't the mighty Maahishmati steel, but then,- </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>-</span>
  <em>
    <span>The sword was only as good as the hands that wielded it-</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And, she had a very good hand, if not the best.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The guards hadn't drawn their swords out either. Instead, they dropped to her feet.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Rajamata," one of them pleaded, "Please do not enter the city gates."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"You prevent me from entering my own city?!" she questioned.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"No, My Lady," the other guard chipped in.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>A knowing glance passed between them. Her fears weren't unfound from what it seemed. Those guards were positively terrified in the new regime. They took her to another gateway, a hidden gateway that had once been forged by Vikramadeva, as an emergency exit from Maahishmati, if ever the need arose.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>On the brighter side, she was in her place. Kattappa would be there as well.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>As would her son.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Now was not the time to rue on her failure as a mother. There would be time later.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>There would have to be.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>---</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"My Lady?!" Kattappa was stunned as well.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He thought he was dreaming. Maybe the state of affairs in Maahishmati had driven him senile to the point of insanity.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm no ghost, Kattappa." the mirage seemed to speak.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kattappa rubbed his eyes. The light in his chamber was not dim. And then-</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>-"</span>
  <b>That emergency exit!"</b>
  <span> he blurted suddenly.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"But how?! How, My Lady?!"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"I'll answer everything later," she clarified. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"For now, please arrange for me to meet my dear son." </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kattappa saw the fire in her eyes.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>---</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Bhallaladeva never knew that his mother had arrived in Maahishmati. Like everyday, he went to Devasena's cage today as well.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Kuntala awaits a fate worse than yours," he snarled. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Like everyday, Devasena didn't retort. The Valiant Crown Princess of Kuntala, reduced to a wretch in chains who could do nothing to defend her country, or herself, for that matter. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But then, she still hoped. That was all she had. She hoped, her baby, </span>
  <em>
    <span>their</span>
  </em>
  <span> baby, was safe. Her mother-in-law, though, hadn't made it out alive. Bhallaladeva's malice had killed her once, and his arrow, shot by the same bow that had been a gift from his mother, had struck her final, fatal blow.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Bhalla smirked triumphantly. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"You needn't worry about Kuntala, Child," he heard, the voice clear as a bell.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He turned around with a jerk. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It just could</span>
  <b> not</b>
  <span> be.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Who are you?!" He roared, as a line of guards came scurrying to round themselves up around him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was Kattappa's entry from nowhere that broke his trance. Each guard was slaughtered, and his Mother received a few gashes herself. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>This time, she would meet her end. Once and for all.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Both sides put up quite the fight, with Bhallaladeva killing people as mercilessly as he could. Finally, he raised his own sword to silence his Mother. And then-</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>-"Not this time, Bhalla!" Sivagami turned around, her eyes afire, her senses on high alert.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And just like that, as she held her son's right hand with her left, she raised her own weapon, like she had, all those years ago, when Maahishmati had once been defiled by those traitors led by Martanda. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>She had raised the blade to defend Her Bhalla, the baby in her arms, and today-</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Blood splattered on her face in a neat slash, just as it had, on that day, as Bhalla's head rolled on the floor of the town square. His massive body shuddered at the decapitation, while resigning itself on the same floor. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Free her, Kattappa." she said tiredly, as she fell to her knees in front of her son's corpse.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Had he let go on purpose?, </span>
  </em>
  <span>she wondered.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The look in her son's eyes would never take leave of her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Not till the day she died.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>---</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"What now, Mother?" Devasena asks her one day.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Mahendra happily tugged at one of her necklaces, unaware of all that had preceded his entry into Maahishmati. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Bhalla only ruled for a fortnight," Sivagami answers her. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Thankfully, there wasn't much he had done. He could, but he didn't have the time to worsen things any further. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She hears Devasena's sharp breath. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"You don't need that pyre anymore, do you, Devasena?" she asks.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Mother, I-"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>-"He had it coming." she cuts her daughter-in-law short.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"He had accrued enough sin," she breathed, while taking yet another scroll in her palms as Devasena attended to the baby. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Doesn't it irk you, Mother?" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It was a question she had expected. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"I have the blood of both my sons on my hands." she said tersely.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She still remembers that cursed night when Kattappa had turned up on the palace doors.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>"Baahubali raktam" he had said before smearing the blood on her own hands.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>There's nothing she can do to shrug those memories away. She had misunderstood both her sons. And after all-</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Wasn't it her fault that Bhalla had turned out thus?</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>She had definitely overcompensated for Amarendra's parents, and yet, when time demanded, she had backed out.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>And there was nothing worse than an absentee mother.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Bhalla's mind had been poisoned only because she had allowed it. Bijjaladeva's presence didn't make any difference to her, but it surely made a world of difference to their son. If she hadn't been there, Bijjala had, all the time, poisoning his mind. But of course, he had seen his own mother prioritise his brother before him.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"There was nothing you could do." Devasena reassures her, not meaning it, of course.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Do not say what you don't mean." Sivagami tells her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Both women knew, that their pride still remained.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>---</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The corrections that the two Queens of Maahishmati had to make to their country were minimal, yet massive. Order had been restored in a very short while, but then, new enemies had begun raising their ugly heads, and they were being curbed.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Mahendra Baahubali, for his part was growing up like his grandmother had deemed him to grow up. He grew up to be just another reflection of his father.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But then,-</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Raise him to be human, Devasena," she told her daughter-in-law once, "For that is the way to be."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"No human should be a God, or a Devil, for that matter." she elaborated while carding her fingers through her grandson's hair, under his mother's knowing gaze.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Take it from someone who has raised both," their eyes meet.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It wouldn't be easy. And as for herself,-</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>There was too much red in her ledger to wipe away in this lifetime.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She hoped she'd get her chance in the next.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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